HAGERMAN, Idaho — Summer may be ending, but there's still time to savor some summer foods -- like watermelons. At Hagerman Canyon Farms, 65,000 watermelons ship every day during the peak harvest in July and August. But the weather is still hot, and watermelons are still being packed at this remarkable spring-cooled farm.
- Hagerman Canyon Farms has seen rapid growth. In 2019 they introduced a spring-cooling method to prep their watermelons and pumpkins for shipping, and this year they've built a new one that will more than double their production.
- The 12,000 square foot cooler also serves as shipping dock. It can hold 65,000 melons, and in peak July and August harvest, they will empty it every day.
- Hagerman Canyon Farms produce can be found in major stores like Costco, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Smiths and more, all across the western United States.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
It's after Labor Day, school's in session, and football season is firing up. It seems like fall is approaching.
For anyone who's not ready to say goodbye to summer, hot weather in store for southern Idaho means you can still enjoy summer things just a little while longer
Hagerman canyon farms owner David Jentzsch is no stranger to farming.
"I grew up on a potato farm from a young age, spent time moving hand lines, picking rock, hole and sugar beats that type of thing," Jentzsch said.
It began as a half-acre in his backyard.
Now, 14 years later, Hagerman Canyon Farms grows over a thousand acres of produce and ships all over the west.
"We ship throughout the northwest Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington ship into California, Colorado, Utah, and even right now we've got stuff going in into Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan" Jentzsch said.
One of the keys to their growth is an innovative method for sorting and packing.
Using a flume fed by natural springs, watermelons and pumpkins take a leisurely float in 58 degree water, cooling off along the way.
"It takes some of that field heat off barely instantly. Water is 23 times more conductive than air so an hour in the water is worth an entire day in the cooler" Jentzsch said.
After their gentle ride from the truck, melons are lifted on a conveyor to an imaging sensor that sorts them into sizes.
Manager Shawn Scoresby says they first started using spring water to cool and move melons 5 years ago.
"This facility here is one of a kind in the nation where we don't reuse the water. We don't have to treat the water. It's just spring water going through," Scoresby said. "So, it's state of the art, I guess you could say."
The 12,000 square foot cooler holds product for shipment, and in summer they will send out 65 thousand melons a day.
Hagerman Canyon Farms can be found all over the west.
"We can get it from the field to the store usually within a day or two and that freshness is what makes the big difference," Jentzsch said.
